Murray breaks through for first Grand Slam

Updated
September 11, 2012 14:10:00

Scotland's Andy Murray has become the first Briton since Fred Perry took the 1936 Wimbledon crown to win a Grand Slam Tennis Tournament. Murray won the US Open in five-set thriller against world number two, Novak Djokovic. Sports psychologists are hailing the win as a breakthrough for Murray, who had previously lost four grand slam finals.

ELEANOR HALL: It's taken three quarters of a century, but today Great Britain has another Grand Slam tennis champion.

Scotland's Andy Murray this morning triumphed over Novak Djokovic at the US Open in New York, in a match which lasted almost five hours.

It's a huge breakthrough for the Scot who had got to four grand slam finals only to lose each one, before today's victory, as Simon Santow reports.

SIMON SANTOW: There was no mistaking the support for Andy Murray in the crowd watching on at a windy Arthur Ashe Stadium.

(Audio from tennis match)

COMMENTATOR: So Murray, he's holding on with a two sets to one lead.

SIMON SANTOW: The average fan in the bleachers was cheering for the Scot, and in his box close to the court Sean Connery added star power.

The cameras trained on Murray's mum and his girlfriend as they rode a rollercoaster of emotions. Alongside them was a man not known for smiling, his coach and a former champion, Ivan Lendl.

For the first two sets, Murray had the edge over his Serbian opponent, but Novak Djokovic had something Murray didn't have - the experience of winning Grand Slams.

COMMENTATOR: ...players just starting to feel the effects of fatigue, we're seeing them shake the legs out, we're hearing Murray in the courtside microphones suggesting his legs are heavy, they're feeling like jelly.

SIMON SANTOW: Djokovic began to hit winners and the doubters began to wonder if Murray might lose at the final hurdle, again.

(Audio from tennis match)

COMMENTATOR: There it is - the joker is back in town.

(Loud applause)

Two set all here at the US Open, and we are going the distance.

(Audio from tennis match)

He's got nothing to lose, Andy Murray, he's lost four Grand Slam finals in a row.

SIMON SANTOW: In the deciding fifth set, it was the Serb who crumbled and Andy Murray held firm.

COMMENTATOR: Murray's heart must be absolutely racing.

(Audio from tennis match)

It's long! Andy Murray has finally done it! He was won a Grand Slam on his fifth attempt. Andy Murray, the US Open champ.

ANDY MURRAY: It was incredibly tricky conditions, you know, and after the third and fourth sets it was tough mentally for me. Novak is so, so strong, he fights until the end in every single match and I don't know how I managed it, to come through in the end, it was I guess close to five hours, I've had some long, tough matches with him in the past and I just managed to get through.

SIMON SANTOW: Doctor Phil Jauncey is a performance psychologist.

PHIL JAUNCEY: In many ways it's a grill off his back isn't it, I think that really he got the monkey off his back at London.

SIMON SANTOW: He's worked with elite cricket, AFL and rugby league teams and recently helped out Australia's Davis Cup Tennis team. He says after so much disappointment, Murray's gold medal at the London Olympics changed everything.

PHIL JAUNCEY: I think the pressure on to do in front of his home crowd, you know the disappointment of Wimbledon a few weeks before might have caused him some hassles but the problem with any of these things, the more people talk about it, the more when you go into these, you stop doing what works for you.

And it's really important for elite athletes, that no matter what the event, they play whether it's important or not, because really the tennis skills required in a Grand Slam final, other than the fact that you're playing best of five instead of best of three, is not really that different to a lot of the other tournaments they play.

So once you've finally got past that pain barrier, you can make it. In many cases, what's happened with Murray is that he plays pretty well but one or two things went wrong, here we go again and he changed.

And I think for him now, he can say, I can go out to play my game and whether people think I'm trying to get the monkey off my back doesn't matter, I'm just going out to, you know, serve, return, volley, whatever and play my game.

And I think you'll find that he'll go back to doing what works for him. I've always said you watch a Nadal or a Federer, you can't see if they're having a good or bad game, they do the same thing every time, whereas I think sometimes players who may feel they have the monkey on their back actually change.